(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a design support system and, more particularly, to a design support system for supporting work for designing a two-dimensional or three-dimensional shape by combining assembly data showing a connection relationship of a plurality of parts.
(2) Description of the Related Art
In a design support system such as CAD (Computer Aided Design), an arbitrary two-dimensional or three-dimensional dimensional shape is generated by combining part data having an actual shape (figure, size, etc.) with assembly data showing the arrangement conditions (position, direction, etc.) of part data.
The part data and the assembly data often have a hierarchical structure. An example thereof will be described with. reference to FIGS. 12 to 14.
For example, a three-dimensional model having a completed shape as shown in FIG. 13 is considered, the model consisting of a cone P1, a circular cylinder P2 having a recess at the lower part thereof, and a circular cylinder P3 having a protrusion at the upper part thereof as shown in FIG. 12.
Such a model is configured by data having a hierarchical structure as shown in FIG. 14. Specifically, this model is formed of part data corresponding to the cone P1, the circular cylinder P2, and the circular cylinder P3, which are actual data, assembly data (hereinafter referred simply to as an assembly) A2 showing the arrangement relationship etc. between the circular cylinder P2 and the circular cylinder P3, and an assembly A1 showing the arrangement relationship between the circular cylinders P2 and P3 and the cone P1.
On a screen (hereinafter referred to as a view screen) displaying an actual view of a model (for example, a model as shown in FIG. 13) having a two-dimensional or three-dimensional shape, assembly data are not usually displayed. Conventionally, therefore, when assembly data are edited, a tree as shown in FIG. 15, for example, has been displayed separately from the view screen, and desirable assembly data have been specified on this tree.
With such a method, however, for example, when it is desired to edit assembly data corresponding to a predetermined part displayed on a view screen, it is necessary to find that part on a tree. For this purpose, the part name must be remembered exactly. Therefore, there arises a problem of an increased burden on the operator.
Thereupon, there has been proposed a method in which when a predetermined part is specified on a view screen with a mouse pointer etc., the corresponding item is highlighted on the tree. However, this method has a problem in that the operation is complicated because the item to be highlighted must be set in a state of being displayed in advance on the tree. To solve this problem, there has been proposed a method in which when a part having not been displayed on the tree is specified, the display mode of the tree is automatically changed so that the specified item is displayed. However, this method also has a problem in that the operator is confused because the display mode of the tree changes successively according to the specified part.
Also, there has been proposed a method in which when a predetermined part is specified on a view screen with a mouse pointer, etc., the corresponding item is highlighted on the tree, and also buttons for the movement to the high or low order of the specified part are provided to facilitate the movement between hierarchical levels. However, such a method also has a problem in that a complicated display makes easy finding of desirable assembly data difficult.
The present invention has been made in view of such a situation , and accordingly an object thereof is to provide a design support system by which desirable assembly data can be found easily.
To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a design support system which supports work for designing a two-dimensional or three-dimensional shape by combining a plurality of parts and assembly data showing the arrangement relationship between the parts. This design support system includes shape display output means for displaying the two-dimensional or three-dimensional shape; part specification means for specifying a predetermined part constituting the two-dimensional or three-dimensional shape displayed by the shape display output means; assembly data acquisition means for acquiring assembly data relating to the part specified by the part specification means; and assembly data display output means for rearranging the assembly data acquired by the assembly data acquisition means according to the hierarchical structure and displaying the rearranged assembly data.